The 1820 Colonel Benjamin Stephenson House

409 S. Buchanan Street
Edwardsville, IL
618-692-1818

Admission is $6.00/adults and $3/children.  Free parking.

stephensonhouse.org

Opened in 2006. 

This Federal-style two-story brick home was constructed in 1820 by Col. Benjamin Stephenson, politician and merchant, for his family.  Unfortunately he died within two years after moving into the house, but his wife remained in the house until 1840. Fourteen additional owners followed until the city of Edwardsville purchased the house in 1999. 

When looking from the side, the brick building in the center was added later and houses the kitchen and servants' quarters.  

Before touring the house we watched a film about Col. Stephenson and his family and home.  The story is told by an actress playing the part of his wife. The film is very interesting and well-done. 

 
 Our tour guide was excellent.  Here she is in the living room. 

This original mantel is above one of the four fireplaces in the house. The color is period accurate.  The portrait is of Col. Stephenson. 

 Above the piano are family portraits. 

This is one of two bedrooms upstairs and would be the master bedroom.  

The carpet is in a period style. 

The bed is one inch longer than the tallest person to use the bed. Period clothes are on display. 

 A Period Bobbin Lace Pillow is on display in the upstairs landing.  Notice the pink thread! 

 The second bedroom has two beds displayed. 

This second bed is a trundle bed. 

The "bathtub" is next to the fireplace in the bedroom.  

A toy hangs from a chair. 

 
The dining-room is on the first floor across from the living-room.  It is set with two tables as would have been done when the Stephensons lived there. 

The blue-rimmed white bowl and the pink-flowered cup and saucer are representative of the dishes used by the Stephensons. 

The dining-room has an early-19th-Century Three Tier Dumbwaiter...

 and an early-19th-Century tea caddy. 

This carved piece of wood is found on many windowsills and was used to prop open the window at different heights. 

 This chandelier is in front hall. 

The kitchen originally was attached to the house but in the mid-1800's that section of the house was removed and the kitchen was placed in a new separate building. 

Up to three hooks are used to raise or lower the cooking pot in order to change the amount of heat on the food. 

The kitchen has a candle-making corner. 

 Kitchen shelves holding period items. 

 More kitchen items. 

 Above the kitchen is the servants' quarters. 

A display on the first floor of the house shows some of the items that were excavated on the property. 

Throughout the house are these Myth cards that state different myths.  Inside the card is the "true story."   

 Of course, there is a gift shop! 

 There are several gardens around the house. 

 After touring the house, we went a short distance to the Queens Cuisine Tea Room.

They had two specials: The peach lemonade was outstanding as was the salad with fresh area-grown peaches and goat cheese. 

This menu item gave us a bit of everything - Quiche Loraine, special peach salad, chicken-salad sandwich, and baked potato soup. 

 The desserts were outstanding! 

 The eight of us loved this restaurant. 

Comments:  What a great day!  The house was one of our favorites.  We were so impressed with the staff and their knowledge and dedication. The employee who started our tour was especially exceptional.  The organization has obviously spent a lot of time over the years researching the time-period and the family.  They have done a wonderful job setting up this historical house. 

We took a private tour which we arranged ahead of time. It was great. They plan for two hours but accommodated our desire to spend only one hour or so.  

One of the most interesting facts we learned was that the previous owner was a university fraternity.  The boys took every precaution to keep the house in good shape even going so far as to remove the four mantels and store them so that they would not get damaged. 

We definitely recommend visiting this house. They are only open Thursday through Sunday.  

The tea room was so much fun and the food was delicious. The native English woman who owns the tea room also waited on us and she was excellent and always accommodating. We would love to go back!   We did make reservations.  

Wood River Refinery History Museum

IL 111 and Madison 
Roxana, Illinois
618-255-3718


Admission and parking are free

https://wrrmuseum.org/history-of-museum/

Opened in this location in 1993. 

Established in 1986 by a small group of refinery retirees, the Wood River Refinery History Museum (formerly the Shell History Museum) in 1993 moved into a building complex that once housed research laboratories. The current museum is housed in the old diagnostic center, with three buildings in the complex to be used by the museum in the future for vehicles and bigger displays. 

The building sits in front of one of the several refineries that are in the Wood River/Roxana area. This refinery is the 9th largest in the United States. 

Before touring the building we were encouraged to watch the 15-minute video about the history of the refinery and the work that is done there. 

It is very interesting to see in a display how many products come from the crude oil at the different levels of the refinement process: propane, butane, motor gasoline, benzene, kerosene, jet fuel, furnace oil, diesel fuel, lubricants, and asphalts. 

The museum is full of lots of displays and artifacts including this modified 1924 Chevrolet that was the Marathon Record Holder from 1952-1966.

 And this antique gas pump! 

 There are many historical displays. 

 Each decade has its own display. 

This picture on one display sure brought back very old memories! 

There are many interesting pieces of equipment. 

Test car fuel flow burettes are used to determine fuel economy miles per gallon.

Crude evaluation distilling column is used to determine properties of new crudes. 

 Analytical Balance is used in analytical section of refinery (control) laboratory.  

There are also displays on areas of interest to the refinery such as Safety

 and Advertising. 

 Among the promotional items are these great Marketing Coin Games. 

 And of course there are many displays of mementos. 

These displays include gifts and rewards to employees and retirees. 

This lamp retirement gift haa a directory of employees printed on the shade and a fun base. 

 There is one room dedicated to related toys. 

Some of the toys are for sale. Because of the changing ownership of the refinery they have Shell, Tosco, Union 76, Equilon, and  Phillips 66 items.

Comments:  This museum is manned by retirees and their pride in their work there is very evident.  The men were very friendly and willing to share.  They recommended that we watch the video first and we certainly are glad that we did. 

The museum is well organized and interesting to walk through.  We spent less than an hour there but could have stayed a little longer but we needed to leave. We are glad we went and learned a little about something of which we knew little!

The museum is only open on Wednesdays and Thursdays.